Trevor Weston’s “Ashes” was an arresting antiphonal setting of the 102nd Psalm, with the children’s chorus standing in an aisle of the auditorium and the adult voices, at one point, diffusing into a Jackson-Pollock-like all-over aural canvas made up of myriad licks of individual vocalism.

“Ashes,” a profoundly moving piece by American composer Trevor Weston, brought the adult and children’s choruses together in a counterpoint of grief, the melancholy strains of the children pushing against the adults’ ever-rising tide of agony, its clashing harmonies ebbing to a Boïto-like buzzing, reminiscent of the Cherubs in the Mefistofele Prologue; as if the cherubs have grown up, and become hardened, deadened to the pain of reality. The urgent refrain“Hear my prayer,” repeated by the adults onstage, was echoed by the Children’s Chorus, standing in the audience, in an innocent, plangent echo. Weston was called up to the stage, and was welcomed warmly by the appreciative audience.

"Choir, ensemble, and orchestra converged in Trevor Weston’s “Griot Legacies,” commissioned for the occasion. But the first voice heard was that of an 84-year-old man singing a homespun“Run to Jesus,” in a 1960 recording taped by Alan Lomax, accompanied with subtle, suspenseful orchestral strains. Weston, a music professor at Drew University, trained early on as a choirboy at New York’s St. Thomas Church, and earned undergraduate degrees in music and history at Tufts. Subsequent movements based on further spirituals showed his knack for piquant harmonies, evocative textures, and effective vocal writing; even in joyous passages, melancholy strains hinted at the spiritual’s bittersweet ancestry. At the work’s conclusion, Weston received a rousing ovation."

By Steve Smith - Boston Globe, Boston, MA - August 15, 2014

THE PEOPLE COULD FLY

"For me, the highlight of the concert was a piece by a living composer, Trevor Weston, who taught composition at the College of Charleston for nine years until joining the music department at Drew University in 2009. Weston!s “The People Could Fly,” was based on an African-American folktale, narrated with simplicity and directness by Minerva King. The work featured violin soloist Josh Henderson, who premiered it in 2004. The story tells of a teenage mother working in the cotton fields with her baby strapped to her back. Together they are whipped mercilessly by the overseer when the baby begins to cry inconsolably. But the girl is told magic words by a sympathetic slave who has retained his African culture and identity, and she soon is flapping her arms and flying away, back to Africa. Soon, others are flying off, too. The music effectively conveyed the nostalgia and terrors of the story — the brutal Middle Passage, the day dreaming, the hot sun, the hard labor, the hope and faith that could not be entirely extinguished. Henderson played the flurrying solo part beautifully and with emotion that clearly infected the rest of the players, and Daniel led with passion and control. The bittersweet contrast between the literal text and the abstract, polyrhythmic and expressionistic music was one of the piece’s great rewards."

By Adam Parker - Post and Courier, Charleston, SC - October 27, 2013

BLEUE

"…gently syncopated marriage of intellect and feeling."

By Mark Stryker - Detroit Free Press, Detroit, MI - January 27, 1998

“Weston achieved an often-trancelike effect in this piece, creating a palette of rich tonal colors as various instruments swooped up and down the scale in repetitive glissandi.”

By Lindsay Koob - Post and Courier, Charleston, SC, June 7 2002

"Harmonic idioms were inventive and fresh with a rewarding sense of phrase length and enticingly beautiful orchestral colors."

Columbia Free Times - Columbia SC. - June 12-18, 2002

IMAGES

Next up, Yuriy Bekker (violin), Norbert Lewandowski (cello), and Robin Zemp performed the stark yet moving Images, by local composer Trevor Weston. From the opening whoosh of fingers on the piano strings to the lighter, yet still serious, blocks of sound that close the work, the truth of interdependence is given a palpable, tactile form in sound. All opposites set store by, and in essence, define each other. Its first movement, Shadow, creates a harrowingly dark space, relieved only by sections of almost pointillistic backdrop in the piano and keening lines of glissando in cello and violin that, while still rather dark, lighten the load enough to provide that drop of yang in its sea of yin. Lumen follows, cast in more of a major key(ish) tonality, yet holds onto the darkness.

by Robert Bondurant - City Paper, Charleston, SC - June 2007

THE GENTLEST THING

"The program began with "The Gentlest Thing" by Trevor Weston, a lovely, meditative setting of lines from the Tao Te Ching. Its central conflict between gentleness and hardness was beautifully represented by luminous major triads, brushing repeatedly against harsh dissonance, the meaning increasing and intensifying as the piece gradually unfolded."